Hearing Women''''s Voices: Mental Health Care for Women pdf

Report available in alternate formats British Columbia Centre of Excellence for W omen’s Health Vancouver, BC CANADA Hearing Voices Mental Health Care for Women Womens By Marina Morrow with Monika Chappell British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health BC Ministry of Health Minister’s Advisory Council on Women’s Health BC Ministry of Women’s Equality [...]... systematically 16 BC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR WOMEN S HEALTH © 1999 British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women s Health HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 17 V Women- Centred Mental Health Care In this section we examine our research participants’ specific concerns about mental health care These concerns led us to think about how models of women- centred care based on a feminist ethic of caring... service-provider education For example, training on women s mental health challenges would be part of the curriculum for professionals and they would receive training updates yearly.19 Women consumer survivors would help to develop, implement and monitor training In developing and implementing women- centred mental health care, the diversity of women must HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 19 be recognized... services For example, studies have found that women use mental health outpatient services more often than men (Rhodes & Goering, 1994) Usage patterns also differ among diverse groups of women for example, some groups of women (i.e., Aboriginal women, immigrant women) may not have sufficient access to mental HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 9 health services (Boyer, Ku & Shakir, 1997) Key... limitation of their services and called for more training and support to house women with serious mental health challenges An initiative is currently underway in British Columbia which will bring women- serving organizations together with mental health HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 27 workers to learn how they can better support women with mental health challenges Other Barriers Across... participatory policy making is therefore necessary Through the use of a gender lens, issues specific to the experiences of women and men emerge We recommend that these issues be documented and those that pertain to women be developed HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 15 into a women s mental health agenda This agenda would prioritize the full range of diverse women s mental health concerns so that they... The need for alliances between HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 25 anti-violence workers and mental health workers Key Concerns for Caregivers/ Family Members · Education for professionals about how to include families in treatment planning · Access to counselling, support and respite services Women indicated · Recognition that the burden of caregiving falls to women that their physical complaints... among women means that not all women will experience mental health problems and the mental health system in the same way Therefore, the particularities of women- centred approaches to mental health care in jurisdictions throughout Canada must be derived through consultation with diverse constituencies of women In any discussion of women- centred care it is critical to acknowledge that much of the caregiving... process HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 5 A feminist participatory action framework that was consumercentred evolved through a collaborative process between the researchers and the Project Advisory Group.7 The experiences of a wide range of mental health constituents were used as an axis point from which to understand mental health reform and the larger structures governing mental health. .. groups with women who have chronic and persistent mental health problems, women family members, caregivers, mental health care workers, mental health planners, researchers and policy makers The strong leadership of women consumer survivors on the Project Advisory Group5 facilitated the development of a methodology that ensured that women who have had personal experience within the mental health system6... determinants of mental health should be adopted by all provincial jurisdictions Already existing frameworks like the 1993 Canadian Mental Health Association’s A New Framework for Support for People with Serious Mental Health Problems and other Mental Health Promotion frameworks could be useful in this regard should they incorporate a gender analysis Mental Health Promotion is defined by the Centre for Health . disorder (Canadian Mental Health Association, 1987; Vancouver/ Richmond Health Board, Women s Health Planning Project, 1999) HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 11 ·. present. HEARING VOICES: MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN 5 This project emerged from discussions that took place in the Women and Mental Health Reform Discussion